Hungry? These 14 countries are the best and worst at feeding their citizens

Oxfam International just released this colorful new graph showing which countries win at feeding their citizens. The “Good Enough To Eat” Food Index ranks 125 countries using UN data and assesses four key areas:

An “Overall” category combines all four measures to produce a definitive ranking. The best place to eat? The Netherlands. The worst place to eat? Chad. These extremes are fairly representative, with the top 20 places for eating well mostly in Europe and the bottom 30 mostly in Africa.

Oxfam International/Screengrab

Oxfam created the Food Index to highlight the challenges people face in getting enough of the right kind of food. Around the world more than 840 million people (roughly 1 in 8) go hungry every day — largely due to poverty and inequality driven by poor governance, weak food distribution, market failure and lack of resources to buy the food they need.

There’s enough food to go around, so why are people struggling? Oxfam explains that misuse of resources, waste and overconsumption are to blame. So is the structure of the global food system:

"There are a number of reasons why people are going hungry today. They include a lack of investment in small-scale agriculture and infrastructure in developing countries, the growing impacts of climate change on food production and security, prohibitive trading agreements and also biofuels targets — such as that set by the European Union — that divert crops from dinner tables to fuel tanks…."

Oxfam's deceptively simple Food Index captures a range of economic and social drivers of eating patterns in poor and wealthy countries alike. Hunger is an issue that’s “starkly felt in poor countries,” the group says.

What’s unexpected is how many wealthy countries lose points due to obesity, high food prices and poor nutrition — particularly among their poorer citizens.

Here are the 14 best and worst places to eat around the world.

Top 7 Countries

These countries, all in Western Europe, ranked highly due to low malnutrition and undernourishment and high access to safe, clean water.

1. The Netherlands

Sarah Dougherty/Courtesy

2. Switzerland

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3. France

Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images

4. Belgium

visitflanders/Flickr Commons

5. Austria

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6. Sweden

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7. Denmark

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Bottom 7 Countries

The bottom seven countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen. They rank low due to high food prices, meaning people can't afford to eat enough high quality food to stay healthy.

119. Nigeria

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120. Burundi

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121. Yemen

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122. Madagascar

David Darricau/Flickr Commons

123. Angola

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124. Ethiopia

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125. Chad

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Solution? Fix the broken food system

Despite this bleak picture of hunger, poor health and inequality, there are some economic and policy solutions that can help people meet their food and nutrition needs. Here are a few recommended by Oxfam:

- Invest in small farming operations in developing countries to increase crop production and diversity of crops

- Reduce global carbon emissions to make food production more resilient to climate change